Inside the editorial page

What's on the minds of TNT editorial writers

Saturday, May 3rd, 2008

Posted by Kim Bradford @ 07:27:51 am

One of the first people I met in Tacoma after taking this job was Felix Flannigan, executive director of the Martin Luther King Housing Development Association.

At the time (February 2005), he was pitching a plan to build a $16 million retail and office complex at its former headquarters at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and South 11th Street in the Hilltop. Demolition was due to start that fall.

More than three years later, I am driving up 11th and see a backhoe ripping into a building next door to the Monsoon Room. After my double take reassures me that the bar itself isn't in danger (it makes a mean mai tai), I get to wondering whether this isn't Flannigan's project come to fruition at last.

Turns out, it is. Flannigan said MLKHDA has already torn down a former doctor's office at J and 10th and is now working on demolishing the building where the Paulson family once ran an appliance repair shop. On May 12, down comes the bank building that housed the association's offices.

In its place, Flannigan plans to erect two six-story buildings attached by a 325-stall parking garage. Plans call for retail and office space, apartments, a child care center and MLKHDA offices.

In all, the buildings will have 330,000 square feet and cost $25 million. Flannigan says he was hoping to buy up more of the block, but the owners of the buildings that include Monsoon and shops along 11th were either unwilling to sell or wanted too much money.

The project does hinge on getting the Hilltop's height restrictions lifted, which is far from assured.

Categories: Taking notice • 2 comments

Inside the editorial page

Inside the editorial page

This blog is designed to give readers a glimpse of our editorial-page operation and how we make our decisions. We’ll let you know who we’re meeting with, what they’re telling us, what events and issues we’re looking at. We’ll also pass on information and observations that may not make our print editions. In addition to the editorial board members who post on this blog, the board includes Publisher Cheryl Dell and Executive Editor David Zeeck.

Contributing bloggers

Editorial page editor David Seago joined The News Tribune in 1967. He oversees the daily editorial and letters pages and the Sunday Insight section. E-mail him at david.seago@thenewstribune.com.

Chief editorial writer Patrick O’Callahan came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. He writes the editorial board’s annual civic agenda published at the beginning of each year. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com

Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. She is responsible for day-to-day production of the editorial and op-ed pages and editing letters to the editor. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.

Editorial writer Kim Bradford joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. She manages this blog. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.